Assaults on police officers must be on HMICs radar. From Police Oracle. Concerns over a potential link between cuts to force budgets and a rise in assaults against officers must be on the radar of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), it has been suggested. Senior Fed officials have said HMIs must now keep the issue in mind when they visit forces – and need to keep the public fully informed about the impact of reductions. They also believe that an evidence base needs to be established as to whether there is any definitive link between the loss of resources and the growing numbers of attacks on personnel. John Apter, Chairman of Hampshire Police Federation, also stressed that the Inspectorate’s new regime of examining forces in detail had to provide a rigorous narrative assessment of the decisions they have had to make as a result of austerity. The PEEL inspection regime – the detail of which is currently out for consultation – will see forces inspected regularly and will follow the OFSTED framework of providing an ‘outstanding’, ‘good’ or ‘requires improvement’ judgement. Mr Apter added: “Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary has now been given a far wider remit. But while they have seen a massive investment, forces have seen a massive cut. “If there are going to be inspections on a more regular basis, then HMIC has a duty to look at the potential correlation between funding reductions and assaults on officers.” As previously reported, concerns about the assaults recently hit the headlines with figures showing there were 20,249 assaults on officers in the 12 months to April 2014 – nearly 580 more attacks than in the previous financial year, research has shown. However, national lead on workforce development and Staffordshire Chief Constable Mike Cunningham said that cuts could not be blamed for a rise in attacks on officers. Mr Apter – who has raised significant concerns about recent assaults on officers with Hampshire Chief Constable Andy Marsh – argued an evidence based focus on why there had been more attacks against personnel needed to be established. He pointed out that CC Marsh had established a gold group – which had the support of the staff association – and was examining whether there was a link between cuts and assaults. Mr Apter said: “I would suggest that other chief constables follow his lead and establish an evidence based approach to this issue – it may ultimately show that there is not a correlation between the two and the issue goes far deeper in society.”
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 16:32:39 +0000
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